Introduction
The movie Fahrenheit 911 is a contradiction between being one of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time while at the same time filled with logical and emotional fallacies which beg the question, what would make people keen and intent on the film. It is directed by Michael Moore, an American political commentator, director, and filmmaker which shall help in explaining the contents of the paper and the fallacies. The main argument in the film is that the Bush administration was well aware of the 9-11 attacks and even played an active role in facilitating them. The three fallacies in the documentary film 9-11 Fahrenheit are; that the united states administration directly and deliberately blamed Saddam Hussein and his regime for the September 2011 attacks on the twin towers and the world trade Centre, secondly, the movie claims that the then president, George Bush received money from bin Laden with which he attempted to start an oil drilling firm called Arbusto Energy through his friend in the oil industry, James Bath, last but not least, the film claims that the bush administration encouraged the closure of veteran hospitals which in fact was false. The fallacies mentioned above undermine this argument due to the fact that they make the viewers question the credibility of the main argument and the intentions of the director in making the argument. Credibility is crucial to the believability and relevance of an argument to an audience, once holes can be poked in the content, the argument may fall to pieces easily.
Discussion
First, the claim that the united states administration directly and deliberately blamed Saddam Hussein and his regime for the September 2011 attacks on the twin towers and the world trade center was an emotional fallacy that played on the people already hurt feelings about the event and thus their willingness to take whatever explanation that sounded well-constructed. In fact, this statement was proven wrong and out of context when the full conversation revealed that she was making a broad reference to the leadership of Saddam Hussein and its perpetration of hate and violence which in turn inspired the acts behind 9-11 attacks. The movie only quotes the sentence that says “Oh, indeed there is a tie between Iraq and what happened on 9/11.” And totally ignores the subsequent dialogue that clarifies the matter “It’s not that Saddam Hussein was somehow himself and his regime involved in 9/11……. ideologies of hatred that led people to drive airplanes into buildings in New York”. This undermined the main argument by clearly showing that Moore was intentionally leaving out pertinent information in order to make a point (Castellano).
The second fallacy states that the then president, George Bush received money from bin Laden with which he attempted to start an oil drilling firm called Arbusto Energy through his friend in the oil industry, James Bath. This is a logical fallacy is and hearing that actually distracts the audience from the main argument, this is particularly true when considering that the Center for Public Integrity investigate the matter and found no evidence of such to back up the claims. Its managing director Billy Allison said” We looked into bin Laden money going to Arbusto, and we never found anything to back that up”.
The third fallacy is that the bush administration encouraged the closure of veteran hospitals in an attempt to connect the matter to the bombing and make add weight to the logic that the administration was taking active steps in enhancing the catastrophic effects of the November 11 attacks, Moore says that the administration “supported closing veteran’s hospitals”. This was a tricky statement due to the fact that the government, through the department of Veterans Affairs actually did close seven hospitals in areas where they facilities were underutilized and the veterans could be served by other institutions, however, what Moore does not mention is that the department also proposed the erection of new veteran facilities where need was growing in addition to building spinal cord injury centers as well as blind rehabilitation centers. This is a logical fallacy since the director, Moore, attempts to create a weak analogy between the November 11 events and the closure of the veteran centers. It undermines the quality of the main argument due to the fact that it leaves the audience wondering where the rest of the content is derived in such a dubious manner (Moore).
Conclusion
The fallacies in the movie fare in height 911 have gone a long way in undermining the main argument in two significant areas of quality and credibility thus making the entire argument questionable. The idea that the bush administration was in league with the bin is largely a conspiracy theory with no direct evidence to it, additionally, the claims that the Osama paid the then president bush is unfounded and last but not least, the fallacy that the closing of the veteran hospitals was connected to the November 11 events is wrong as per the evidence that exists. In the end, what matters in a movie is the appeal to the audience, for example, however much the Fahrenheit 911 may be criticized, there are the people who choose to believe its contents sine hey have lack faith in the government, regardless of the fallacies.
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